Introduction
A Briefest of Histories

Further Information:

• The legal issues affecting a new brand name
• The legal issues affecting a new logo
• The legal issues affecting a new design
• Protecting a new brand name or new logo
• Protecting new designs
• Protecting ideas
• A Trade Mark Attorney
• Enforcement
• Defending a trade mark
• Defending other IP rights
• Delimitation of rights
• Licensing
• Franchising
• Exploitation of IP rights
• Exploitation of Intellectual Property rights: raising funds and securitisation
• Intellectual Property Rights as investments. Clearly this is the other side of the ‘raising capital’
equation and there are undoubtedly venture capitalists and other entrepreneurs willing to invest in the
right businesses with the right IP portfolios. The necessary due diligence (i.e. checks on the nature,
extent and validity of the IP rights) must however be done by IP specialists before such arrangements
are entered into. These exercises are always necessary whenever there is an arms length change of
ownership (of the IP or the related business with the IP), capital raising, investment or insurance
transaction in prospect. In this connection a reluctance by a business owner to invest in properly
identifying, protecting, using and policing/enforcing his IP rights is likely to show up in due diligence.
From the point of view of the IP owner this can have an adverse effect on any transaction being
negotiated and may even be a deal-breaker. After all, why should a prospective buyer of a business
pay the requested price (or even complete the purchase) if the owner himself has not seen fit to invest
in nurturing and maintaining important business assets? Similar questions will be asked by
prospective investors of all types.
• Acquisition and transfer
• Registration of transactions
• E-commerce and the internet
• Trade Marks and the internet/e-commerce
• Domain names, “ownership” of a name and cyber-squatting
• Disputing domain names
• Websites and e-commerce – legal issues
• Contractual issues in e-commerce
• The legal issues affecting advertising
• Intellectual Property and Insurance
• Intellectual Property and Insolvency

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